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SLAC Theoretical Physicist Stanley J. Brodsky Awarded Sakurai Prize

SLAC offers its warmest congratulations to Theoretical Physicist and faculty member Stanley J. Brodsky, recipient of the 2007 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics. The Sakurai prize is awarded annually by the American Physical Society to recognize and encourage research in particle physics and is one of the highest honors given in the field of high energy physics.

Brodsky's work has deepened our knowledge of the nature of quarks and gluons within protons and neutrons, and his analyses of how these subatomic particles behave have improved our fundamental understanding of matter. An important set of principles which bears his name (developed at SLAC with colleague Glennys Farrar) are the Brodsky-Farrar Counting Rules, which help researchers predict how subatomic particles behave during high-energy collisions. A fundamental basis for the counting rules within the theory of quarks and gluonsquantum chromodynamics (QCD)was established by Brodsky and his former student at SLAC, G. Peter Lepage. Brodsky has also developed other physical principles underlying QCD, novel experimental tests of fundamental theory, and new methods of theoretical analysis.

"These sorts of achievements are never done alone," said Brodsky, who originally came to SLAC as a research associate in 1966, and who directed SLAC's Theory Group from 1996 to 2002. Brodsky has also received the U.S. Distinguished Scientist Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. "I really have benefited from wonderful colleagues, students, and collaborators at SLAC. SLAC is one of the best environments in the world for theoretical physics."

Brodsky will receive $5,000 and a certificate for his achievements, and he has been invited to deliver a talk on his work at the April 2007 American Physical Society annual meeting in Florida.